APPROXIMATELY 7,000 FAMILIES RECEIVE PERMANENT HOUSING IN EARTHQUAKE
ZONE WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF EQZRP
YEREVAN, December 3 (Noyan Tapan). Approximately 7,000 families
(approximately 30,000 persons) have received permanent housing within
the framework of Earthquake Zone Recovery Program (EQZRP) implemented
in 1998-2004, including approximately 6,270 with Housing Purchase
Certificates (HPCs) at an average cost of $3,442 per family; 664 with
Housing Improvement Grants (HIGs) at an average cost per family
sheltered of $4,224; 60 with Urban Housing Improvement Grants (HIGs)
at an average cost per family sheltered of $2,079. Steven Anlian, the
Head of EQZRP, said about it during the December 3 conference entitled
“From Recovery to Development”. According to him, over 120 municipal
sites have been reclaimed by clearing of “domics” in five cities; over
50 sites, formerly occupied by domics, have been redeveloped/are under
development; over 4,000 domics have been removed and destroyed to-date
with another thousand or more still to be removed by participating
local governments; over 100 public buildings (schools, kindergartens,
museums, etc.) and sites (parks and squares) have been reclaimed and
returned to the communities. The Conference audience is comprised of
the donor community, both organizations and governments which have had
a direct role in providing resources to the Earthquake Zone’s
recovery, as well as broader donnor community; Armenian Central
Government and 18 participating local governments; all EQZRP program
staff and partners/subcontractors, including bank staff, auditors,
engineers, NGO representatives and real estate professionals. US
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the US to Armenian
John Evans mentioned that the US government’s support to Armenia will
not complete with this program. According to him, there are already
projects for support to the northern regions of the republic. The
Earthquake Zone Recovery Program is part of a broad range of
activities supported by USAID to help the recovery of this region and
the rest of Armenia. These activities include nutrition and health
programs to increase access to primary health care, and programs to
strengthen local capacity through support of community, local
government and non-governmental organization (NGO) development. Other
programs focus on reform of social service delivery and social
infrastructure systems, and support of micro, small and medium
enterprises, especially agribusiness.